NBA CBA

The goal for Billy Hunter, Derek Fisher and the players’ union is not to win. It is to serve their constituency. If their constituency accepts a deal that Hunter, Fisher and other National Basketball Players Association officials have worked so tirelessly to avoid, then it should not translate into a moment of shame. Considering what…

Is this starting to sound a little desperate to anyone else? One day after NBA players union President Derek Fisher sent a letter to players dismissing media reports and urging unity, union director Billy Hunter sent out a similar letter reports Marc Stein of ESPN. He adds that the union’s negotiating committee is getting together…

The NBA players are not a unified front right now. And the cracks are showing in varied media reports. On one side you have the hardliners, as represented in Jason Whitlock’s piece at Fox Sports over the weekend. One which said that union director Billy Hunter had to confront union president Derek Fisher because Fisher…

Tuesday was the day that Mark Cuban was to raise a banner he has worked hard to bring to Dallas. It was the day Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd were to finally get NBA championship rings. It was the day we got to see Derrick Rose in action. The day we gut to watch the…

Let’s be clear about two things. First, the NBA owners are going to win the lockout. Big. Just how big remains to be seen, but even if they took the players terms last Friday they would have had a massive win. It’s just not enough for them. Second, they are fighting to save themselves from…

Any time you start to see any potential rift in unity from the players, you can expect a letter from union president Derek Fisher to the players. Right on cue Monday — following a report saying he was in David Stern’s pocket and wanted a 50/50 split of revenues with owners — Fisher sent out…

Right now, David Stern and the owners are trying to scare the players, to push them into agreeing to a 50/50 split of basketball related income (BRI, the revenue the league takes in). The players got 57 percent in the old deal and think they have given up enough coming down to 52.5, that the…

Over the weekend, we told you that much of the framework of the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place. Contract lengths, the luxury tax, and amnesty clause, a mid-level exception and a “stretch” exception are all basically in place. The New York Times called it the deal “95 percent” done. When asked Thursday,…

Everyone is not on the same page in the NBA labor negotiations. The owners are not a unified front and neither are the players. I have heard from players willing right now to take a 50/50 split of basketball related income (BRI) — the league’s revenues — and get on with a season right now.…

David Stern was masterful Friday afternoon. He put on a frightful Halloween show for the NBA players watching at home. Certainly it was all spin at his press conference following another day of blown up labor negotiations. He spoke to the media for about 15 minutes (it was broadcast on NBA TV) and NBA union…

Even when you know it’s coming, it doesn’t make it any less painful. There will be no NBA games in November. David Stern said in his press conference following the dissolution of labor talks (again!) that all games through Nov. 30 would be canceled. That also means there will be no 82 game NBA season…

One thing we know will be in the new NBA labor deal is an amnesty clause — teams will be able to waive one player off the roster and wipe most (likely 75 percent) of his salary off the luxury tax and salary cap. (The player would still get paid the full amount.) This is…

Throughout these NBA labor negotiations there has been a lot of focus on who is in the negotiating room. When it has been a small group led by Billy Hunter and David Stern, there has been progress. When Kevin Garnett or Paul Allen — or really any larger group — becomes involved things blow up.…

We are close. Very close. By Monday we could be talking about what the Heat/Lakers/Celtics need to do in free agency, not luxury tax details. There are real signs of hope. David Stern watched the NBA players’ union press conference Thursday from the back row of the room, and both he and union head Billy…

Friday could be the day. But if not Friday it may be this weekend — the NBA season is close to being saved. Maybe not all of it, but most of it, enough to have an asterick-free, credible NBA season. Progress through two more days has everyone, even the participants, hopeful. NBA Commissioner David Stern says…

This is good. There is a growing sense of optimism from both the NBA owners and players sides that a deal is there to be had — and now they are both actually working hard toward it. Less than 11 hours after they walked away from the bargaining table at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, representatives…

Kevin Murphy is smarter than you. And me. And David Stern and Billy Hunter and everyone else in the negotiating room. There’s no objective way to prove that, but do you have a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant?” Are you the guy the people who wrote “Freakanomics” think is the smartest person they know? That’s Murphy.…

Thursday morning’s 4 a.m. press conference following a marathon 15-hour negotiating session between the NBA and its players took a few interesting turns. Specifically when discussion turned to how much of an NBA season there would be if a deal could be reached soon. (That’s a big if, there’s a lot of ground to cover…

I’ve got to say this for the owners and players, when they sit down to talk they don’t get up. NBA owners and players union representatives met for more than 15 hours in New York Wednesday — going until 3:20 a.m. Thursday morning. The two sides will get back at it on Thursday at 2…

There is plenty of blame to go around for why we are still sitting here with an NBA lockout going on and the regular season postponed. David Stern, Billy Hunter, Kevin Garnett, Paul Allen, Derek Fisher, Robert Saver and Bennett Salvatore are all to blame. Oh, wait, not Salvatore. I just blame him for everything…

NBA owners and players will be back across the table from each other negotiating on Wednesday. Something they should have been doing every day since talks blew up last Thursday, but we won’t get into that. At least they are talking again. The reason they are talking again is the owners have backed off their…

The pattern continues. First the NBA owners and players have an intense few days of negotiation. Then they break up with one side making an emotional outburst to the media. Then they cool off for a few days. Then they sit down at the table again and talk. And make incremental progress. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.…

For a couple days now, we’ve been waiting for the NBA to officially wipe out games through the end of November. There were even reports that the ax would drop Tuesday. Now, as it moves past 5 p.m. Tuesday in New York (where the NBA offices are located), no games have been called off yet. Which…

There is talking going on. No, the bigwigs of the league and the NBA players union are not sitting down across a table and actually doing work — why would they do that? — but there is talk going on. Specifically, the NBA owners are talking revenue sharing again Tuesday. Meanwhile, staffs from the NBA…